Laws of the Blood 1: The Hunt (6 page)

“I don’t think so.”

She heard the deep anger in Geoff Sterling’s voice. The hate. She also read that the strig was scared half out of his wits. Which was actually a very good reaction as long as he didn’t do anything stupid. Selim had her chase Sterling into an alley off Melrose after spotting him cruising the busy street. Sterling looked conspicuously Goth, all done up in leather and torn black lace. “It’s a wonder the fashion police haven’t gotten to him first,” had been Selim’s comment as the strig began to
feel
his presence and took off. She’d backed Sterling into a chain-link fence at the end of the alley with the bumper of the car. Selim got out to talk to him before Sterling could make the leap to the other side of the fence.

“Do you know who I am?” Selim asked.

Siri frowned as a glob of spit landed on the windshield. The strig either had bad aim or a certain amount of sense; Selim was standing right in front of him.

“Pervert,” Sterling said to Selim. “
Dhamphir.”

Selim didn’t bother to correct the youngster’s misapprehension, but Siri took immediate offense. Just because all
dhamphirs
were Enforcers didn’t mean that all Enforcers were
dhamphirs
. It was just that the one
dhamphir
that was an Enforcer, and totally insane but efficient, gave all the others a very bad reputation. She knew that Cassie didn’t want Sebastian to grow up to become one of the Enforcers of the Law, but did the little boy have a choice?

Siri took a great deal of exception to Sterling calling her Selim a pervert because he had the ability to do what others couldn’t. Vampires could not kill each other, despite the hideous battles they sometimes got into; they couldn’t even commit suicide. The only kind of vampire that could bring death to another vampire was an Enforcer. It was a skilled profession, not a perversion, or so the Enforcers and Strigoi Council chose to believe. It was an honorable profession, no matter how hated and feared they were by the others of their kind.

Not that Selim had told her any of this. Vampire stuff was all supposed to be a big secret until companions came of age and all that bullshit. She had her sources; she had a brain to figure things out. She could read Selim’s mind a good deal of the time. Siri loved being married to a cop and did what she could to help. Lord knew, he needed it.

“Hey! Watch the finish!” she complained as Geoff Sterling landed forcefully on the hood of the car. She winced as she heard his shirt buttons scrape against the glossy enamel.

“Sorry, hon!” Selim called and pulled Sterling off the hood by the back of his leather coat. A moment later, the rear passenger door opened, and Selim pushed the strig into the car ahead of him. “We’ll be going now,” he said to Siri.

She saw Selim flash her a quick grin in the rearview mirror as she backed out of the alley, but she did the proper, subservient companion thing and drove in inconspicuous silence.
Damn but Selim was hot,
she thought as he settled into the seat beside the sulking strig. Sterling was a pretty boy, slender and androgynous, with dark hair and bright green eyes. Her vampire was skinny, but in a wiry, muscular way that looked great naked. Selim’s face was angles and shadows, with big, liquid brown eyes, a high forehead, and a sharply pointed chin.

“When are you going to kill me?” Geoff Sterling asked as the Mercedes pulled out on the freeway.

The question broke a long, tense silence. Siri was glad; all the emotion the young vampire projected into such a small space had given her a headache. Selim, she could tell from the Cheshire Cat grin she glimpsed when she glanced in the mirror, was eating all the fear and loathing up with a spoon.

“Why would I want to kill you?” Selim answered the question with a question.

After another silence, a sullen one this time, Geoff said, “Seattle.”

“You weren’t involved.”

“How do you know?”

“You’re not dead. Besides, I’m sure you’re very sorry and will never be bad again, especially now that you’re on my patch.”

“I don’t acknowledge your authority,” the young one replied.

“Will that stop me from ripping out your heart? Should it become necessary, that is.”

A spike of fear registered on Siri’s senses. She just barely managed not to swerve the car across lanes in
reaction.
Stop that!
she thought loudly at Selim, but gave no outward sign of being involved in any of this.

“It’s about the girl,” Selim said with no further games.

“The girl?” Sterling sounded outraged. And jealous. “What about Moira? What’s she to you?”

A complication,
Siri thought.
Don’t worry, hon, he doesn’t want your girl. He better not.

She hoped.

Never mind that vampires often had more than one companion. She had no business being jealous of this Moira, no more business than Geoff Sterling had being jealous of Selim. But both she and Geoff Sterling were jealous at one mention of a name. Everybody was
so
touchy lately. She hated that she was being drawn into this nonsense. She’d be so glad when they got it out of their systems.

“Back off, boy,” Selim said. “My interest in you and Moira Chasen is strictly professional. Do you know who she is?”

“Of course I know.”

“Until yesterday, I was blissfully unaware of her existence. I’m told she’s a black-haired beauty who plays an angel on some highly successful television show.”

Sterling chuckled. “That’s what first drew me to her. Seducing an angel. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”

“A make-believe angel? If that’s fun for you, who am I to stop you?”

“A
dhamphir,”
was Sterling’s bitter answer.

“Hunter will do. Juveniles are so ignorant. But then, you were orphaned so young. You’re what? Two, three at most?”

“I was a companion for—”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not the same. If you weren’t young and inexperienced, you wouldn’t even remember how many years you were a companion. You certainly wouldn’t think those years counted for anything.”

Thank you very much,
Siri thought. What was Selim talking about? What was his point? Why didn’t he just
tell Sterling to leave the girl alone and kick him out of the car? Instead, he wanted her to drive them to a mall. What for? Was Selim planning on doing something to improve this kid’s wardrobe?

“Do you think you’re ready to take a companion of your own? Or is there something else you have in mind?”

“I don’t know,” was Sterling’s answer to both questions.

“You haven’t thought about it? I see. The girl caught your attention, and you started stalking? You’re just playing owl and mouse without thinking about where it has to lead?”

“I want her,” Sterling answered sulkily.

“Does she have the gift?”

Sterling nodded. “I’ve never wanted anyone like I want her. Wanting’s enough.”

“Dead or alive? Either way is complicated,” Selim went on without giving the other vampire time to answer. “She’s famous. Her face is known. It’s time you made a choice. Ah, here we are.”

Siri pulled into the parking lot of the large mall, found a parking spot near the neon-lit main entrance, and shut off the car engine. She didn’t like where this conversation was going. Mostly because she didn’t understand where it was going. It had seemed simple and straightforward to her when she found out about Stirling’s unhealthy interest in the actress. She’d told Selim, assuming he’d nip the problem in the bud. Suddenly, she didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing. This was abnormal, and she didn’t like it one little bit.

She didn’t like it when he said, “Wait here,” and dragged Sterling out of the backseat. She heard Selim say, “Come on, I have something to show you,” to the younger vampire as they headed toward the mall’s main entrance.

“Stay here, my ass,” she muttered. She checked her watch, then got out of the car. “Wait for lord and master to return? Not a chance. Not when Macy’s is open for another hour.”

“I
KNOW WHAT
it’s like,” Selim told the boy as they walked across the parking lot. “To want someone so badly that you
ache
all the time. You follow them at night, you dream about them during the day. Do you ride her in your dreams? Do you have it that bad?”

He asked the questions as they reached the row of glass doors at the main entrance. Moths buzzed around the overhead lights. A group of teenagers loitered just beyond the glow of the lights, smoking by the side of the building. The confusion that emanated from Sterling, as acrid as the cigarette smoke, told Selim all he needed to know. The look on Sterling’s face was priceless. Selim pushed open a door. Artificially cooled air with no scent of its own surrounded him as he started walking down the wide, shop-lined corridor. Geoff Sterling hurried to catch up with him.

“I’ve never quite made up my mind about air-conditioning,” Selim said as the strig put a hand on his arm. “On the one hand, it’s convenient. On the other . . .” He shrugged Sterling off. “It’s just so much dead air. What do you think?”

“I think you better tell me what you’re talking about.”

Selim gave Sterling one of those slight little smiles he was told had quite a chilling effect of their own. “Think about it. How do you spend your days? Dead to the world? Or do you dream? Do you dream about her? What she’s doing? Where she is? Do you call out to her in your sleep? Go to her?”

Sterling looked at him strangely, thoughtfully. He sat down on one of a row of benches that lined the middle of the wide corridor. He ran his hands through his thick, slicked-back hair. Selim stood with his arms crossed and looked around. There weren’t very many people in the mall. It was a Wednesday night, and quieter than usual, even for the middle of the week. Miriam and Andrew were seeing to that. While he waited for Sterling to adjust his thinking, he added his
go home, get out of here
thoughts to the mix. Wouldn’t work on everybody, of course. There were plenty of people who could resist vampires’ telepathic commands, but it didn’t hurt to exercise one’s will on those who couldn’t resist every now and then. Safer for everybody in the vicinity on a night like this.

After a few moments of staring at his shoes, the young vampire looked up at Selim. “I can do that? Project my thoughts while I’m out of it?”

“Have you tried?”

“To control my dreams?”

Selim nodded.

Sterling looked momentarily outraged. “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me about this?”

“Because your foster parent screwed up and got caught before teaching you half the things you need to know. Then
you
got all pouty about it and decided to go strig before anyone could beat any sense into you.”

Sterling came angrily to his feet. “So now you’re going to teach me,
dhamphir
?”

Selim was hardly impressed by this show of temper. He
wasn’t
all strung out and in need of a Hunt like every other vampire in town. It helped to have his aggression under control when everybody else was on the verge of
losing their heads. “I am.” He waved away the inevitable protest. “This is my town.” He took the young vampire by the arm and pulled him toward the courtyard at the center of the shopping mall. “Come on. There’s something I want you to watch. When it’s over, we’ll discuss your Moira’s future.”

There were four entrances, with a fountain and palm trees in the middle of the court. A glass dome arched overhead, letting a small circle of darkness into the heart of the suburban shopping center. Shiny, molded plastic tables in black and white were lined up like chess pieces in the tiled circle between the fountain and the fast-food stalls. Bright red trash containers circled the fountain. A smell of hot grease assailed the senses, masking the warm scent of human that was already dulled by the cold air. Gary waited for them, seated near the west entrance. He was one of about ten people scattered at the tables, none near where Gary sat. The slave was sipping on a soft drink when they came up. There was a pile of french fries spread out on a tray in front of him, and a great many empty packets of ketchup were scattered around the fries. He nodded amiably as Selim took the seat across from him.

Selim dipped a fry into a pool of ketchup in the middle of Gary’s tray. “Don’t bother to get up.”

“I won’t.” Gary hiked one shoulder higher than the other and assumed a stupid accent. “Unless you want me to fetch you a hamburger, master.”

“Nah. The meat’s always overcooked at these places.” Selim popped the fried potato in his mouth, then let ketchup linger dramatically on his lips for a moment before licking it off.

Gary snorted and dropped the Igor pose. He glanced briefly at Sterling, who remained standing uncertainly by the table. “Your friend’s being obvious.”

“He’s not my friend,” Sterling answered.

“He’s talking to me,” Gary complained to Selim.

“Don’t get formal on me now,” Selim said to the slave. To the vampire he said, “Sit.” Sterling sneered
but did as he was told. “If you’re looking for a foster mother, you can talk to Miriam after the hunt. Until then, strig,” Selim informed Sterling, “you will leave those in her nest alone.”